Reenforced adobe block and wall construction



Feb. 12, 1929.

C. C. THOMPSON REENFORGED ADOBE BLOCK AND WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 24, 1925 I l Z.

Patented Feb. 12, i929.

CHARLES C. THOMPSON, 0F GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA.

REENFORGED ADOBE BLOCK "ailD WALL CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed August 24., i925. Serial No. lf.

As may be interred from the. above title', this invention relates particularly to the reeniorcement of blocks, such as adobe blocks, adapted to be used in the construction of Walls, such as, for example, the Walls of dwellings; and this invention includes also the resultant reen'forced Walls, and means and methods for the production of the mentioned blocks and Walls.

By reason of the ready availability oit `suitable materials and labor for4 adobe construction, and the comparative rarity and expense ot more durable materials, and the comparative rarity oirains in certain sections, adobe comprising a natural clay admired With straw and molded into blocks, has been extensively used in the Pacino southwest, and elsewhere; and Walls formed :trom adobe blocks have many advantages, When the blocks are properly formed and laid and protected; but, as heretofore formed, they are poorly adapted to withstand oscillatory movements such as are characteristic ci' earthquake shocks; and it is an object of this invention to provide blocks and Walls which, even when made of the comparatively inexpensive material mei'itioned, shall be little liable to the cracking and disintegrating eilects of seismic disturbances.

It is an object of this invention to provide building bloclrs with reeniorcement entending diagonally therethrough and optionally projecting troni one or both ends thereof; and preferred embodi ments oi' this invention may comprise Wire mesh reeniforcements adapted not only to re"`t 'fracture ot the indiviiflual brick but to entend between the bricks of .successive corners in such manner as to bond the blocks together and give the resultant Wall a degree oit tensile strength.

@ther object-s of my invention, including the optional employment ot reentorcement extending` from a lateral surface or suri'aces oi? blocks and adapted to contribute to the bonding ot a protecting coat thereto, may be best understood from the following description of alternative embodiments thereof, taken in connection With the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a perspective vievv ol one advantageous form oli bloclr illustrating my invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view o'l' a slightly diilerent type, in Which the reen'orcing Web extends more exactly through diagonally opposite horizontal edges of a block.

Fig. 3 may be regarded as a vertical section through a Wall comprising blocks of the general -type illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. e is a 'top plan view of a partially completed Wall, showing how the described blocks may be used at corners and near openings, and hoiv the projecting reeni'orcement may be used not only to strengthen the introduced blocks but to bond the saine. together and to anchor a protecting coat thereto.

Fig. 5 is a plan vieiv or horizontal section comparable with a part of Fig-4, but showing a thinner Wall as formed oit' blocks from which the reenicrcement projects laterally in such manner as to enter a protecting coat laterally applied.

As shown, each of my adobe or other blocks ll, lla, lll comprises a web or mesh reentorcement l2 extending diagonally therethrough. the essential difference between the block' shovvn in Fig. l and the blocks shown in Figs. 2 and 3 being that, in the latter, the reent'orcement is intended to emerge as nearly as may be from the respective upper and lower horizontal edges oi:y the ends thereof, whereas, in the former, in order to diminish the liability to fracture, the reenforcing web emerges near said edges but at short distances above and below the same. I

Blocks of the general character described may be quickly and conveniently made in any preferred manner suoli as by means oiu a mold or form.

ln thc use et my novel reenicrced blocks, the projecting portions i7 thereof may be bent into horizontal planes so as to become engaged between superimposed courses ot' like bricl-s, substantially as shown in Fig. 3; and at the. ends of courses, at corners or openings in Walls, and even when bloclrs are shortcned, instead oi' cutting oli the projecting portions 17, la of reentorcement, the same may be bent down and used as a means for the secure attachment of a Waterprootl or other coating,` such as, for example, a Portland ce-V ment mixture applied to one or both surfaces oit a Wall.

Thus the projecting ends of my diagonal reenforcing members may be used not only to strengthen the individual blocks and to impart a degree of tensile strength to a block ivall but to bond a protecting or iinishing coat thereto and to 'protect exposed corners and edges; and, if desired, the described reentorcing members, or their equivalents, may be of such Width as to project laterally beyond the vertical surfaces of my blocks, somewhat as suggested at 18, Figj, in order to provide additional anchorage for the coat-y ing 19. Y L

Although I have herein described a single complete embodiment of my invention, it willy be understood that various features thereof might be independently employed; and alsol that numerous modifications thereof might be devised, by those skilled inthe art to which this case relates, without the slightest de.,

i one upon `the other'in substantially parallel rows and disposed with their largest surfaces inv substantially horizontal planes; said blocks being,V ,diagonally reenforced with metallic mesh which yprojects from diagonally' opposite edges of saidblocks'and .the projecting sections of ,which are embedded between superimposed horizontal courses of like blocks.

2. A' substantially vertical wall compris-` ing: self-supporting blocks superimposed, one

upon the other in substantially parallel rows and disposed with their largest surfaces in rsubstantially horizontal planes; said blocks being diagonally reenorced with metallicmesh which projects'from diagonally opposite edges of said blocks and the projecting sections of which are embedded between superimposed horizontal courses of like bloc-kam said metallic mesh also projecting` laterally from Vsaid blocks into a protecting` coat.

ln testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 18th day of August, 1925.

CHARLES c. THOMPSON. 

